


The Difference in a Kiss

by sapphirebluerubyredroses



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, a kiss per chapter/drabble, and then where are also others, not all of those kisses are given to Blue, some are blusey, some are pynch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 8,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3791869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirebluerubyredroses/pseuds/sapphirebluerubyredroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In Blue's inexperienced opinion, there were fourteen different kinds of kisses, only one of which she'd ever experienced, and thirteen of which she never would."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lips

**Author's Note:**

> This came about in one of my spells of intense frustration and procrastination that came with my schooling, so I'm not entirely sure how it'll be, but I hope you like it. This was originally supposed to just be a drabble a chapter with a different kiss per chapter, but somehow they all became intertwined and it became a story with extremely short chapters instead.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own The Raven Cycle in any way, shape or form!
> 
> I also have an account on Fanfiction under sapphire blue-ruby red roses and on Tumblr under shutupandshipit where this has been posted

In Blue's inexperienced opinion, there were fourteen different kinds of kisses, only one of which she'd ever experienced, and thirteen of which she never would. It wasn't jealousy that had her mind wiring with imagined scenarios or conversations from long ago, but a curious longing. What would it feel like to be kissed on the forehead or on the neck? Would she be filled with warmth or elation or dread?

Shaking her head, she pushed hard down on her bike pedals, rolling steadily towards Monmouth Manufacturing. There was no point in longing for something she would never have, she reminded herself, so instead, she focused her mind on the problem she and her Raven Boys were facing. How were they going to stop Piper, Neeve and whatever they had woken from getting to Glendower first?

…..

"No," Blue sobbed, curling her body around Gansey's convulsing one. She held him close to her chest, shielding him from anything else Neeve and Piper would think to attack them with. Though what they had woken had left them to their own devices, they seemed to be doing just fine without it. Adam and Ronan stood in front of them, their fury and despair making them a deadly pair. "No, you can't die! This isn't how it was supposed to happen!" she cried, even as the sky wept above her, and she felt the dampness of his rain spattered uniform beneath her fingers. "Please, Gansey, you have to stay, you have to live! We can't lose you!"

Gansey stared up at her, wonder and fear coupling within his eyes. Reaching up a hand that barely obeyed him, he wiped tears from her cheeks. "It's fine, Blue, I always knew this was coming," he told her, words thick and clumsy around his mouth of blood.

Behind them, Glendower woke slowly, moving and shifting more as Gansey's own body slowed.

"No, no it won't! You can't say stuff like that!" Blue yelled at him, dipping her head so her forehead rested against his. Her body shook and trembled with the force of her sobs.

Adam let out a shout of pain, slamming to the cavern floor with an echoing crash. "Adam!" Ronan shouted over his shoulder, his attention focused on the women at hand, but his mind behind him with Adam.

"I'm fine," Adam called back, struggling to his feet and resuming his place at Ronan's side. Noah flickered in and out of existence around the cavern, helping as much as he could with his limited abilities.

"Look at how hard they're fighting. You can't do this to them," Blue whispered, arms tightening as she felt the life leaving him, little by little.

The hand hadn't left her cheek. "Blue," Gansey whispered weakly, pulling her closer.

"Gansey, please, don't."

When he pressed a kiss to her lips, the first and last they would ever share, it wasn't warm and sweet like her friends always told her it would be. It was cold and despairing and maybe a little bitter. Blue clung to that kiss until she felt Gansey's last breath whisper passed his lips.

Pulling away, she could only stare down at the peaceful smile that curved up his mouth. A torrent of sobs spilled from her mouth as she curled around him.

Silence engulfed the cavern with the ceiling open to the sky, only the rustle of cloth and clank of armor filling the vast space. When Blue finally raised her eyes, she found Glendower, magnificent and old as he'd been when he'd been placed in the tomb, looking down at her. Or more so at Gansey, still and cold to her touch, in her arms. In a voice far deeper than she'd ever imagined, he rumbled, "Your requests shall be granted." Then he was gone, and they were left with nothing, but another body and festering wounds that were their hearts.


	2. Forehead

Blue stood outside the reading room, staring blankly at the wall as she tugged absentmindedly on the hem of her dress. She'd made it from material Mr. Grey had bought her for Persephone's funeral with Gwenllian's unwanted help. It was black as Ronan's mind and what remained of her young, shattered heart. Tugging at the short black, lace gloves Gwenllian had 'found' lying about the house, Blue pushed the door open without knocking.

Maura, Calla and Mr. Grey fell silent, looking over to her. They were dressed as darkly as she was, but carried a much less somber air about them. The only brightness of the three was the glaringly white bangles ringing Calla's wrists.

"Mom, Calla, please do a reading for me," Blue said, pulling out the remaining of the four chairs around the table. She slumped into it heavily, running her fingers over the scarred surface of the table.

"Mr. Grey, would you go into the drawer and get out Calla's and my decks, please?" Maura asked politely, pointing to a small dresser against a wall.

Nodding, Mr. Grey retrieved the decks and set them in front of their respective owners, and took his seat once more.

"Blue," Maura said, passing the decks to her.

Blue shuffled them without flurry or preamble, passing them back.

For only a moment, the pair decided on the pattern to layout. Quickly, they spread the cards across the table. With pursed lips, they scanned over the cards with focused eyes. Heading the procession was Blue's card, the Page of Cups.

Calla hummed quietly, eyebrows quirked up. "Well, this is interesting, don't you agree, Maura?"

"I'm not sure interesting is the word I would use," Maura replied, standing from her chair to lean further over the cards, nose scrunching in concentration.

Blue perked up, looking between the two women. "What is it?"

"Well, you won't be killing any more true loves, that's past, but everything with Glendower and your Raven Boys isn't over just yet," Calla told her as Maura's face dropped into something grim and she leaned further over the cards, as if getting closer to them would help her to see more clearly.

When Maura looked up at her daughter though, only a smile graced her face. "As always, you're so full of potential that it's overflowing. Remember that."

"How could I ever forget?" Blue asked with five shades of sourness to her voice, "It obviously hasn't helped me thus far." She stood with a murmured, "Thank you," exiting the room. She didn't miss the look Maura and Calla exchanged though.

…..

Adam, Ronan and Blue were silent as they watched Gansey's casket being lowered into the welcoming earth. Mrs. Gansey sobbed loudly beside Helen's silent tears and Mr. Gansey's attempted comfort and strength. Maura, Calla, Mr. Grey and Artemis stood just apart from the group, waiting by the cars.

Tears slipped down Blue's cheeks, hot and silent, and suddenly, she was being pulled beneath one arm with another wrapping around her waist. The white bangles Calla had forced upon her and the boys once they'd stepped from Ronan's BMW jangled on their wrists.

Leaning into Ronan's shoulder, she let a hiccup slip passed her lips. She'd cried so much in the past week, she'd been certain she had no more tears left to shed, but her body had found more just for the occasion. Tears may not become the Sargent women, but they certainly clung to the Sargents like a lifeline.

Ronan's large hand pressed her head into his shoulder. "It'll be fine, Blue, we'll be fine, everything will be fine. It always is," he told her gently, more gently than anyone could have imagined him to be.

They stayed like that for hours, Ronan and Blue and Adam and at some point Noah with his own flashing white bangle, though he'd faded soon after, all curled in each other. They stayed there after the crowd left, and they stayed there after Gansey's family left, only passing a few words of comfort to them before they couldn't hold it together any longer. They were there after the sun had set and after the rain had begun to pour, turning the grass to mud.

Umbrellas popped open over their heads, startling the trio back into reality. "Come on, kids, let's go home. Staying here won't bring him back, and getting sick isn't going to make him rest easy," Maura said gently, a soft hand resting on Adam's shoulder.

Silently, they nodded. Blue stared at the grave for a moment longer, pulling one of the bangles from her wrist and placing it on the soaked stone of his headstone. Turning slowly, she followed her family back to the cars.

Artemis stopped her in the grass before the sidewalk, pulling her into a warm hug. "Don't worry, my girl, it may hurt now, but it will get better."

"How do you know?" she asked, voice muffled against his chest and the thick black button-up he wore.

"I have lived many, many years, more lifetimes than you can imagine. I know these things," he told her. Releasing her from his embrace, he pressed a kiss gently to her forehead.


	3. Thighs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All these chapters seem to be of similar length, too bad their not longer.

Ronan, Adam and Blue tumbled from the confined spaces of Ronan's BMW onto the pavement of Monmouth's parking lot, Mr. Grey sliding from the driver's seat. Turning to the car her mother had been driving, Blue told her family, "I'll be home later." Mr. Grey crawled in behind Maura with some difficulty before pulling the seat back into place. He and Artemis exchanged an uncomfortable, tense glance.

Brushing hair behind her daughter's ear, Maura nodded solemnly. "Don't do anything you'll regret, you three," she told them.

"We know," Blue told her, turning from the car and mounting the stairs to the second floor, Ronan and Adam following in her wake. As she pushed the door open, discarding her boots beside it, she turned to the pair and said simply, "Ronan, get me drunk."

"I can, but do you really want to? You might end up puking on yourself," he told her even as he disappeared into his room and reappeared with an unmarked bottle and two glasses.

Blue nodded. "I want to forget for a while, and if this will help me do that, I want it."

Nodding, Ronan motioned her and Adam into his room, sitting cross-legged on his large bed. The pair made themselves comfortable on the mattress, if a little hesitantly.

"Why do you only have two glasses?" Blue asked, watching him closely as he filled the glasses with clear, odorless liquid.

"Parrish doesn't drink," Ronan explained, handing her one of the glasses.

Taking the second from Ronan, Adam knocked back the shot, face contorting as it burned down his throat. It tasted like sweet strawberries, another one of Ronan's many dream objects. "I do for tonight," Adam rebuked, handing the glass back to Ronan.

Something close to unease twisted Ronan's features. This was not the Adam he knew, not the Adam he'd met over two years ago, not the Adam who fascinated him so readily. This Adam was a broken thing, but so was he, wasn't he? And so was Blue, wasn't she? So, instead of voicing his musing, he stood and retrieved another glass and bottle that this time had a label of black and white. He filled their glasses with the clear liquid again, and they threw them back as one.

"Is this what alcohol is supposed to taste like?" Blue asked, staring down into her glass. A flushed pink was already beginning to crawl up her neck, burning along her ears and cheekbones.

"No, this is." Ronan filled their glasses with the amber liquid this time, and when they knocked them back, both Blue and Adam came up spluttering. Ronan released a harsh, sharp laugh.

…..

Adam and Ronan could hear Blue in the larger room quietly singing to herself, her words broken every now and again by a hiccup or a sob. Last they'd checked, she'd discarded her dress on the floor in favor of one of Gansey's soft button-ups and had cocooned herself in the blankets he'd left rumpled upon his bed.

Similarly, Adam and Ronan had discarded their suits, Adam's folded nicely on the desk and Ronan's crumpled on the floor, when the heat of their drink had begun to burn them from the inside out. Adam lay with his arm slung over his eyes, face burning pink with embarrassment as Ronan slid down his body.

"We shouldn't," Adam began, "Blue is-"

"Drunker than an alcoholic in a wine cellar," Ronan finished, ghosting his fingers along Adam's stomach, bringing a gasping breath to his lips.

"-is in the other room," Adam corrected, words just this side of slurred.

"I can ask her if she wants to join us if you prefer," Ronan told him, making to push himself up.

Adam grabbed his wrist, holding him still. "Don't."

Ronan settled back down, staring up at him. "If you don't want this, tell me now and I'll stop. We'll never speak of it again. It'll be like it never happened."

"I-I don't know what I want," Adam admitted.

Laying a nipping kiss on the inside of Adam's thigh, he said, "If I do something you definitely don't want, stop me."


	4. Fingertips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this one is a little longer than all the others. Isn't that fun? It's probably because I had originally started this whole thing with only part of this chapter as my starting point.

Blue woke only a few hours after she'd passed out, still a little tipsy and still in Gansey's shirt. Shivering as her toes touched the concrete floor, she padded to Ronan's open bedroom door. She found exactly what she was expecting to find, Ronan and Adam naked, fighting for control of the covers even in their sleep, the room smelling of stale, drunken sex. Why she'd been expecting exactly that, she wasn't sure, but the sight pleased a small part of her all the same.

Turning from the room, she slipped her dress back on under Gansey's shirt, pulled on her boots and found the Camaro's keys. Holding them close to her chest, she moved out to the Pig, running her fingers gently across its cool surface as she unlocked the door. A sob already on her tongue, she dropped down into the driver's seat.

For the first time since she'd known the car, it roared to life on the first try.

"Blue, you should go back inside and sleep," Noah told her quietly, flickering sporadically in the passenger seat. Tears tracked down his cheeks, as real as her own.

Blue shook her head, gripping the wheel with all her strength. "I can't, Noah. I have to go somewhere. It's like something is calling me." Even as the words left her mouth, they became an undeniable truth. There was a tugging in her chest, pulling her, begging her to follow.

Sighing, Noah murmured, "Then I can't stop you. Be careful. Please. We can't lose you too."

…..

Black clouds threatened more rain overhead and the wind wrapped Blue's dress around her knees. The tall, green grasses whipped at her legs, stinging against her bare skin. Cabeswater was a fearful thin in that moment, raging and screaming, almost as if it was grieving for its lost prince, its lost king.

Aurora Lynch, still unable to live outside the confines of Cabeswater, stood just inside the door of the structure they'd erected as her home. White lace curtains fluttered in the windows, a happy fire casting light out onto the grasses crackled somewhere behind her. "Blue, sweetheart, please come inside, it's getting bad outside."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lynch, but there's something I have to find first. Please watch the Pig for me," Blue said, stepping between a pair of trees, following a thin stream, and disappearing from sight.

…..

Blue stood atop a boulder overlooking rolling green hills and spreading forest, the surface slick with the sky's tears, listening to the forest speak around her in a language she was still not privy to. Thin tendrils of her hair were plastered to her forehead and cheeks, her dress and Gansey's shirt soaked through to her bones. Water, warm from summer, pooled in the bottom of her boots.

From behind her, Blue heard a shuffle, a rustle, and a voice she thought she'd never hear again.

"Blue?"

Spinning about so quickly she nearly slipped off the rock, she hurtled herself at the figure so apart from the forest that he seemed ethereal. He was solid and warm beneath her searching hands, his face soft and scratchy with a bit stubble beneath her fingertips. "Gansey, Gansey, Gansey," she whispered, drinking him in.

Taking her hands gently, he asked, "Jane, what are you doing out in this weather? Are you trying to get sick?" He paused, eyes roaming over her person. "Are you wearing one of my shirts? Why are you crying?" He pulled her closer, taking her face between his hands, staring into her eyes. His thumbs wiped at her tears the same as the day he'd left them.

Blue clutched at the front of his stupid polo shirt, holding onto him as if he'd disappear if she let him go. "I thought I'd never see you again. You were dead, Gansey, how are you here? You're supposed to be dead. Tell me you won't be dead again. Tell me Ronan didn't dream you. Tell me you're real."

Pulling her in close, Gansey pressed his cheek to the top of her head. "No, Ronan didn't dream me. I was dead, but Glendower… Glendower brought me back. He brought me back in his time, with his company, and told me if I could get back, I could have my life back, that he would give Noah his life back as well." Releasing her, he told her, "I'm not going anywhere."

As Blue stared up at him, she realized that he looked older. His skin was the kind of tan that came with being outside from the break of day to sunset. His hair had been bleached by the sun. Beneath her fingertips was not the soft cotton of his polo shirt like she'd originally thought, but soft leather over chainmail covering coarse wool. A cloak black as Persephone's eyes hung from his shoulders, brushed by the tips of his hair. From his belt hung a sword of dark steel. Worn leather encased his legs and well-made boots held his feet.

"How long did you travel with them?" she asked tentatively.

"Two years."

Blue's mind was reeling. Two years, he'd been living for two years, but it had only been a week since his death. The mysteries of the line were far from known to them, she realized.

"Is this… is this okay?" Gansey asked self-consciously, tugging at the long strands of hair that brushed his forehead. He pushed them back, but they only fell back into place.

"Everything is fine now," she whispered, dropping her forehead against his chest.

A smile pulled up the corners of his mouth, and as she looked up at it, she couldn't help running her fingers along his face again.

Catching her hand again, he pulled the tips of her fingers to his lips. On instinct, she made an attempt to jerk away, but he kept her hand still, studying her. "It's fine, I can do this now," he whispered, lightly kissing each of her fingers, sending a shock through her body, "You don't know how long I've wanted to kiss you."

Blue couldn't have stopped the tears even if she'd wanted to.


	5. Shoulder

Adam grasped the side of the sink, scraping his blunted nails across the smooth surface. He stared down into the foil lined, water filled bowl, trying to see something, anything, but it was all a jumble. Cabeswater had lost its ability to coherently communicate with him. One thing he had gleaned from the useless attempt… Cabeswater was ecstatic. He'd tried the tarot cards, and the result had been the same.

Hunching his shoulders, he dashed his hand across the surface. "Useless," he growled, then regretted it immediately.

He didn't hear Ronan slipping in behind him. He was ignorant to his presence all together until he was pressing cool lips to his shoulders.

"Fucking hell!" Adam cried, managing to only flinch at the touch instead of jumping into the sink. A chuckle slipped between the traitorous lips still pressed to his skin. "Don't do that when I'm scrying!"

Laughing, Ronan pressed closer against his back.

Adam narrowed his eyes, staring at the other. "You're very affectionate for someone who hates everyone. Like a cat."

"I'm still drunk."

"That makes even less sense because you get more violent and angry when you're drunk," Adam grumbled.

Pushing away, Ronan laughed a derisive laugh as he moved to the toilet. "What did you see?"

"Absolutely nothing," Adam muttered bitterly, leaning back against the sink, "Well, not nothing. I saw Blue in Cabeswater and a party of people walking the line. There were knights and a woman and a coffin. Cabeswater is… excited about something. It was confusing. The image wouldn't focus or settle. I don't know what to make of it."

Ronan shrugged helpfully, flushing and shoving Adam playfully out of the way to wash his hands. "Don't then. Obviously, you can't do anything about it. Where's the midget anyway? Her shoes and the Pig are gone." He flicked the water from his fingertips off at Adam.

It was Adam's turn to shrug, wiping away the moisture. "She was gone when I woke up."

Sighing heavily, Ronan stared at the ceiling as he turned from the room. "Guess that's our cue to go find her." Not paying attention, he walked straight into Noah. "Mother fucker!" he snarled from the ground.

Noah and Adam were staring wide-eyed at each other. He had walked into Noah, not **through** him which he'd also done on more occasions than he wanted to admit. "That's not necessary. They're coming back now."

"They? Who is they?" Adam asked as Ronan continued to growl contemptuously.

"Blue and…" he trailed off, eyes wide and imploring.

"And?" Ronan spat.

" **Gansey**."


	6. Wrist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short as fuck chapter is short as fuck. Wow, surprise, look an actual drabble.

Maura stood in the backyard beneath the spreading beech tree, eyes turned towards the storm sliding over little Henrietta. Droplets of rain splattered against her upturned face, but the storm had not yet fully begun.

"Maura," Mr. Grey said quietly, walking up behind her.

"Blue didn't come home last night," she said as way of reply.

"She needs time to grieve," he told her, wrapping her in a firm, warm embrace, "She's fine. She's with her Raven Boys. They just need a little time."

"I know," Maura whispered, "But her cards and this storm worry me. I know she's out there. What if Neeve and Piper or the thing they woke finds them? Hurts them? Who will be there to protect them?"

Turning her, Mr. Grey held her face between his hands. "They're stronger than you think. They're capable of taking care of their own."

Sighing, Maura leaned into his touch. "I know, but that doesn't stop me from worrying."

"Give it till noon, then call Ronan. If he doesn't answer or she's not back, we'll go find her," he told her, lifting her wrist and pressing gentle lips to her pulse, feeling it jump beneath his touch.

"Alright," Maura murmured, returning the favor


	7. Cheek

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, sorry I'm not putting up two chapters today, but I'm too weary from work to stay up any longer. I'm not even writing my next short story for my Camp Nanowrimo project (it's about a lamia, an incubus, and a succubus).

Blue and Gansey stepped back into Monmouth, Blue leading and Gansey staying so close it was a wonder she wasn't suffocating. He had his fingers wrapped in the back of her dress like a child afraid of the dark.

There was a flurry of activity. Noah and Adam were slowly sinking into some sort of hysterics. Ronan was blank faced, pulling on pants and juggling his keys contemplatively from hand to hand. They came to a screeching halt, staring at the pair.

Ronan was the first to speak, voice derisive and wondering, pants still wide open, "What are you wearing, old man?"

"Gansey," Adam breathed a sigh of relief as Noah cried it, catapulting himself at the pair with the ferocity of a whirlwind.

"Noah! You're alive!" Blue shouted happily, hugging him to her.

Releasing Blue's dress, Gansey accepted the hugs Adam and Ronan threw around him. "It's a long story," Gansey told them. Looking over his friends, he only acknowledged the love marks dotting Adam's skin with an eye-crinkling smile. Neither Adam nor Ronan were aware of the marks, and as such, were baffled at the slightly devious grin splitting their best friend's face.

"I'm alive," Noah told Blue emphatically, grinning widely as he hugged her close, "I don't know how, but I am."

Laughing delightedly, Blue rose on her toes, pecking him on the cheek. "I see that! It's wonderful! Glendower really did it!"

Face growing warm and red, Noah just tittered nervously, rubbing self-consciously at the place Blue's lips had brushed his skin.

Pulling away from him, she asked cautiously, "Is… is this what you want?"

Noah wouldn't meet her gaze. "I don't know yet." Nodding, she accepted the answer without question.

Adam and Ronan stared at her, transfixed and baffled. "Blue," Adam muttered.

"Yes?" Blue questioned, eyebrows rising.

"You…" He pointed questioningly at Noah's cheek.

"That's not something I have to worry about anymore," Blue explained, pressing a kiss to his cheek and then fighting to Ronan until she pressed a similar kiss to his cheekbone as demonstration. Her lip throbbed and tingled where she'd slammed it into the jutting bone. "I don't know why, but I'm not going to question it."

"Our life has become a paradox," Ronan muttered, turning to his room, "I need a drink. Maybe ten."

With a sigh, Adam snagged his arm, jerking him back. "You're still kind of drunk from last night."

"So, I can't get more drunk?"

"No."

With a snarl, Ronan conceded, settling in beside the boy.

They were all silent for a long moment, simply basking in the fact that their best friend was back. Blue, of course, broke the moment with her sensibility. "I need to get home. Mom will want to see all of us. Please put some clothes on before that, Adam."

Adam's face flared scarlet as he realized he'd been standing in nothing but a pair of Ronan's boxers.


	8. Collarbone

Maura entered the kitchen to find Artemis staring wonderingly into the microwave while a ragged kettle on the stove spouted steam into the cool air beside him. Outside, the storm was beginning to rage, the sky darkened by clouds, the light of the sun held at bay in favor of the sheets of rain smothering the house and creeping shadows. Uncharacteristically, the halls of 300 Fox Way were quiet, the aunts and cousins and friends rallying in favor of sleeping out the stifling storm. No one would be coming in for a reading anyway, not in this weather.

"Such strange inventions in this time," Artemis commented as he closed the door and turned to look at Maura with those eyes that had always twisted her insides into knots. Even now, butterflies took flight in her stomach, turning it into the most intricate knot ever to be imagined.

"I find it funny that you are still fascinated by such things. Not a lot has changed since you disappeared into Cabeswater," she said, stepping forward to retrieve three cups from a cupboard by the sink. She set them beside the kettle and pulled down her favorite tea, a fruity mixture that somehow reminded her of Blue more than anything.

Artemis watched her hands closely as she poured the cups, pushing them off to the side to steep. "On the contrary, my dear, a number of things have changed in a very short period of time." He paused, turning his eyes to the rain streaked window. "I have missed the portion of my daughter's life that seems to matter the most."

Maura nodded, turning her eyes to the kitchen door. "But you are going to be here for the second part. That's what matters, I suppose. She used to yearn for you, asking me about you and dreaming of a father who watched her from afar as she grew. I'm not sure when, or even if, that little girl stopped believing, but I think you being here is a good thing. She needs a father, even if she doesn't think she does."

"She has a father," Artemis murmured, "And it is not myself, though I wish it was." Maura's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she turned to look at him. "She has a father in Mr. Grey," he elaborated, "He has been more of a father than I have."

Sadness flickered behind her eyes. "You can still be a father to her."

"Yes, I can, but it will not be as she expects or as even I expect," he told her, turning to gather Maura in his arms. She stood still against his chest, her arms caught between them, her hands spread wide over his chest. "Do you love him?"

Maura was not all that surprised of the turn in the conversation. Still, she asked, "Mr. Grey?"

"Yes."

"Yes," she breathed, burying her face against his chest.

Pulling away, Artemis nodded. "That is good. I am happy for the two of you. I can tell that he feels very strongly for you as well, though I cannot vouch for the emotions of another man." Leaning close, he brushed feather light lips across her collarbone, the way he had done so many years before. "I just wish we could have had a chance."

Maura was silent as Artemis pulled away, taking a mug with him to the room he had been provided. She bit her lip, holding back the soft sob that pushed against her teeth. Her eyes burned with what she had lost, but her heart remained whole, intact with what she had found. Pressing her fist against her lips, allowing her shoulders to hitch once, she grabbed the two mugs she had made. Turning, she headed for her room where Mr. Grey waited, wrapped in the warmth of her love, and for the time when they would set out to bring her daughter home.


	9. Head

"Mom, we're home," Blue called into the house quieted by the storm that had soaked them to the bone. Her fingers were still tangled around Gansey's, as they had remained from the moment she'd found him. Refusal buzzed through both of their bodies, acting not only as repellent, but also a magnet to each other and the other boys.

On the front porch, Noah shook like a dog, flinging water every way possible, before finally taking a tentative step into the house. A sigh of relief escaped his lips when he remained solid.

They stood in the hallway, the door shutting out the howling wind, for a silent moment before the pounding of socked feet echoed from above them. "That'll be Mom," Blue predicted, moving to the bottom of the staircase, the boys following in her wake, to await the hurricane that was Maura Seargent.

"Blue!" Maura cried, throwing herself into her daughter from two steps above the bottom of the staircase despite her soaked clothing. Blue staggered back, staying on her feet only with Gansey's help. "You worried us so badly! Never go into Cabeswater by yourself! You disappeared, just like Gansey that first time, and I couldn't see your time for so long!" She released Blue, pressing a hard kiss to the top of her head. When her attention turned to the boys, Mr. Grey gathered Blue into a gentle hug.

Maura gathered Gansey into a crushing hug, squeezing him tightly. "It's good to see you alive and well," she told him, patting his cheek. She pulled him down, pressing a kiss to the same spot she'd bestowed on Blue.

She went to each boy in turn, hugging them and giving them a kiss as she had Gansey. She sent a knowing smile to Adam and Ronan, silently enjoying the flush of Noah's cheeks and nose. "Okay, let's get you all warmed up and dry. Everyone into the kitchen." She turned a blind eye to Blue and Gansey mounting the stairs to the second floor, and Blue's room, leading the other boys behind her. "We'll get you something to change into, get your clothes dried, and something warm into you all."

Following behind Noah, Adam leaned into Ronan, whispering urgently, "Are we that obvious? That's the third time we've gotten that look."

Ronan just sent Adam a look that simply said, 'I don't know, man,' and a shrug of his shoulders.

Noah dropped back to them, and whispered in a conspiratorial stage whisper, "Yes, you are." He scurried off with a laugh as Ronan snarled at him.


	10. Jaw

Blue pulled Gansey into her room, wrapping her arms around his waist as she kicked the door shut. They stood, tangled in each other's embrace, ignoring how their clothing stuck to their skin or how water still dripped from the tips of their hair or how Ronan had put on music that reverberated through the entire house, drawing the cousins and aunts and friends of friends from their rooms like termites from the woodwork. In a matter of moments, 300 Fox Way burst to life despite the storm's debilitating effect.

Blue laughed into Gansey's leathers, murmuring, "For someone who is so antisocial, Ronan seems to draw in a lot of people."

"It's Adam. He nullifies Ronan's poisonous aura. It's only now starting to take affect because it's not only Ronan being an idiot and pining after Adam, they're both being idiots and pining for each other," Gansey explained, laughter in his voice.

A rush of cold air blew across Blue's bare calves, sending a shudder through her body.

Gansey's arms tightened around her, and he whispered into her hair, "You need to get warmed up."

Pulling away, Blue tossed the towel hanging on the end of her bed at him. She pulled open the door quietly, peaking into the hallway in search of prying eyes. Grabbing Gansey's wrist, she pulled him at a sprint into the bathroom, sighing in relief when she closed the door and found the small area bra and clothing free. Orla had a bad habit of leaving her business on the towel rod for the whole house to see.

"I feel as if being sneaky in your house is several shades of useless," Gansey commented, watching as Blue reached into the shower, turning on the water. Heat crawled along his cheeks and latched onto his ears as Blue pulled the shirt she'd taken from Gansey's draws off and began slipping out of her dress. His hand flew up, nearly of its own accord, to shield his eyes and protect her dignity.

"It mostly is, but you can't blame a girl for tr-" Her words cut off with a loud laugh as she looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

Stammering, Gansey mumbled, "I think I should probably go downstairs and check on what the others are doing."

Grinning like the fool she knew she was, Blue stepped over to him, pulling his hand away from his eyes. He simply squeezed them shut. Standing as high as her tiptoes would allow her, Blue kissed along his jaw, pulling his attention away from his embarrassment. "Really, you're being ridiculous, Gansey," she whispered, her breath feather light against his skin. She pulled at his clothing, slipping them over his head and dropping them to the bathroom floor without protest.

"Morals… I have morals," he whispered as if trying to convince himself instead of her.

"I know," she told him as she pulled him towards the shower.

…..

Blue, hair wet and warm, sticking to her skin, cracked the bathroom door open. She had a towel wrapped around her, her wet clothing draped over her arm. Gansey stood behind her, peaking over the top of her head for anyone in the hallway, a towel wrapped around his waist and his clothing clutched against his chest. "Coast is clear," Blue whispered, opening the door wider.

A cousin or maybe a daughter of one of the friends stood in the hallway, her four-year-old eyes blinking at Blue and Gansey is the worst accusation possible.

Blue silently cursed under her breath, and instead of running damage control -no amount of coaxing or pleading or bargaining would work on this particular girl- she sprinted back to her room, Gansey hot on her heals. As she slammed the door closed behind him, the girl's voice rose in a whiney shout, "Aunt Maura, Blue has a boy in her room!"

Blue sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If y'all are wondering, no, they did not go from 1 - 60 in the course of like 6 chapters. Really, they went from… 1 - 30 out of 60 in the course of 6 chapters.


	11. Back

"Is there even anything in here that we can wear?" Ronan griped, standing in front of the pile of clothing Blue had thrown on her bed for the boys to riffle through. He wore only his boxers, his clothing already hanging from a hanger in her closet beside Adam's. Blue and Gansey's clothes had been thrown haphazardly over the end of her bed.

"Well, generally speaking, we have the ability to wear it, but if we're going to is a different matter entirely," Adam replied, picking up a shirt not only two sizes too large for him, but most definitely six times too large for Blue. Sighing, he let his head fall back.

"We could just not wear anything for a few hours," Ronan said simply, pulling a Captain America shirt with its sleeves cut off from the pile.

Ignoring the heat that crept up from under the collar of his shirt, he blinked slowly at Ronan. "Ronan," he growled emphatically.

"Adam," Ronan growled back, raising an eyebrow at him.

Huffing, Adam snatched up a towel and the clothes he had found that were halfway decent. "Let's go take a shower."

Grinning with triumph, Ronan followed after Adam, a spring to his step.

…..

Ronan shivered, his body tensing beneath Adam's exploration of the tattoo covering his back. His back arched, his fingers reaching back to drag along Adam's waist. "Adam," he groaned through clenched teeth.

"Sssh," Adam whispered gently, lips brushing down Ronan's spine, "Unless you want this whole house full of women to hear your voice."

"Like I care. Just don't stop," Ronan snapped.

Grinning, Adam kissed further down Ronan's back. "So you want Gansey and Noah and Blue to know what you sound like when I drive you crazy?"

"They already would if you wouldn't be such a fucking tease."

Adam moved back up Ronan's back, slipping his arms around Ronan's waist and keeping his lips pressed to his skin as his smile fell away. "Everything with Glendower isn't done yet. Can you feel it? There's still something… something that hasn't happened yet, something that's wrong."

"Can you tell what it is?"

"No," Adam murmured. He tightened his arms around Ronan's waist, looking for ways to keep himself grounded in reality. Cabeswater prickled at the edge of his senses, exhilarated, fingers reaching out for him. "But we're not done losing people yet, I don't think."

Silent for a long moment, Ronan tried to throw a joke. "Way to ruin the mood."

Adam laughed half-heartedly. "Like you don't ruin them all the time."


	12. Nose

"And they finally make an appearance," Blue called, hanging off of Gansey's back, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. "You two took so long that Noah managed to change and Calla and Mom tried to make pie."

"It didn't work very well," Noah laughed, his mouth smeared with vanilla ice cream and the filling to apple pie.

Calla, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, sneered, "I don't see you complaining, ghost boy."

"I think we did pretty well for our first time," Maura said around a mouthful of pie, handing the fork to Mr. Gray and Noah a napkin, "Would you two like some?"

Noah cleaned up his face, folding the napkin and dropping it on his plate.

Shrugging, Ronan took the plate Calla grudgingly handed him and promptly proceeded to remove the whip cream from the top, smearing it across Adam's nose. Adam gave an indignant cry, slapping at Ronan to punctuate each word, "Why. Would. You. Do. THAT!"

The room burst into laughter. Noah jumped to his feet, kissing Adam on the nose, wiping away the whip cream with his lips. Laughing, he danced away to the beat of the music still playing through the house.

"Hey, asshole, that's not yours," Ronan snapped at Noah, setting down the plate and racing after the boy. Wrapping his arm around Noah's throat, he dropped him into a head lock.

"Well, I don't belong to anyone and neither does any part of my body," Adam told him, picking at the plate with a look of appreciation.

Calla rolled her eyes, taking her plate from the kitchen. "The amount of overprotectiveness in this room is stifling. I hope y'all used protection."

Sighing, Maura rolled her eyes towards the ceiling forlornly. "So many teenagers having sex in my home. Why is this so?"

"Mom!" Blue cried, laughter overshadowing her voice.

"What?" Maura asked innocently, dragging Mr. Gray from the room, her laughter flowing after her.

Ronan released Noah, a smear of vanilla ice cream painting the smaller boy's nose.

Dropping from Gansey's back, Blue dragged Noah toward her, kissing his nose as he had Adam and wiping away the sticky cream. A little, "Oh!" popped from his mouth as he flickered out of existence.

Their eyes wide, they stared at the spot he had disappeared.

"Mom!" Blue screamed, her voice terrified and broken.


	13. Neck

"Blue," Maura whispered, pulling her daughter tightly against her chest. Her throat was tight with knowing, her heart breaking behind her breastbone. Somewhere in the back of her mind, that part that she shoved as far away as she could, into the darkest corner, the part that knew more than it ever wanted to know, knew that they would never see each other again.

Blue hugged her back just as tightly, her own bell of intuition ringing in her chest. "I know, Mom, but I have to go. We have to get Noah back. He's got to be there somewhere."

"I know," Maura whispered into her hair, "I know. Just… be careful. I love you."

"I love you too," Blue whispered back, squeezing her once more before dashing off to her boys waiting in their cars. She dropped into the passenger seat of the Pig, forcing herself not to look back as they tore away from the curve.

…..

They were all silent, listening to the Pig growl and howl as they wound their way towards Cabeswater. Finally, Adam whispered, "Why? Why did he disappear? What happened?"

His hands wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles pressed white against his skin, Gansey replied, "I don't know. I don't know. This shouldn't have happened. Everything should be normal again."

"Gansey, what did Glendower say to you exactly? None of this is normal. None of us have ever been normal. You died and Noah was dead. In this world, you two aren't supposed to be alive. You're bodies are buried in the ground," Blue said, her knees dragged to her chest, her hand pressed over her mouth.

"He told me that if I could make it back to Cabeswater, both Noah and I would be alive again…"

"Back to Cabeswater, not back to here," Ronan pointed out.

After a moment, Adam whispered, "Fuck."

…..

"Noah!" the four shouted together, stepping through the high grasses and between the trees of Cabeswater and over streams created by the crying of the sky. The trees rustled excitedly, their voices overlapping one anotherso only gibberish greeted their ears. "Noah, are you out here?"

Gansey and Blue walked ahead of Adam and Ronan, disappearing and reappearing between the trees and sheets of rain, but always their voices drew the pair along. That was, until their voices faded into the patter of droplets on the forest floor.

Adam pulled Ronan to a stop. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ronan asked.

"Exactly! Where are Blue and Gansey?"

Ronan stared at him for a long moment. "Shit." He started away from Adam, breaking into a sprint. "Gansey! Blue!" he shouted, Adam stumbling after him, "Mother fuckers, where are you? Gansey! Blue! Son of a-" He let out a shout of surprise, running headlong into Noah, sending them both to the forest floor. They landed with a soggy thump.

"Noah!" Adam shouted, dropping down beside them.

Grinning, Noah said, "I'm back. I'm so happy, I could kiss you!"

"You're not kissing him again," Ronan snarled.

"Fine, then I'll just kiss you." Pulling him down, Noah locked his lips on to Ronan's neck for a heartbeat, pulling away with a laugh.

Shoving himself up off of Noah, Ronan glared down at him, rubbing at the new mark marring his neck. "This isn't a laughing matter. Where are Gansey and Blue?"

Noah's eyes grew wide. "Don't you know? They… they're not here anymore."

"What do you mean? They were just here," Adam said, "They were just running your way."

"They aren't here anymore. In this time."


	14. Stomach

"How long has it been now?" Adam mumbled, staring out over the valley, seated on a large rock bleached by the sun somewhere in Cabeswater.

His hand laced with Adam's, thumb running over a simple silver ring on Adam's finger, Ronan said, "Six years." With a cry from the sky, he followed Chainsaw's progress as she argued with a smaller raven.

"What do you think they've been doing?"

Ronan hummed thoughtfully as he slid is arm around Adam, pulling him into his lap. "Fighting dragons and burying kings and exploring ley lines, but also mundane heterosexual family things like building houses and filling them with screaming kids."

"We have a mundane life."

"Yes, but ours is homosexual."

Adam rolled his eyes skyward. "Why do I even try? Speaking of kids, Niall, Joseph and Lily should be down with school by now," he said, standing and holding out his arm for Chainsaw. She landed on his shoulder in a huff, chattering at Ronan agitatedly. "And Maura and Mr. Gray asked us to babysit Persephone, Elisa, Dean, Clara and Laura today."

"I never agreed to babysitting their hellion children," Ronan protested, "They need to learn what contraception is."

"It's the least we can do for them babysitting our hellion of children all the time," Adam pointed out, pulling Ronan along behind him back towards Aurora's cottage that Artemis occupied most days out of the year, "Oh, and Helen and Noah are coming up for dinner."

Ronan groaned. "I still don't understand how that even happened."

"None of us do."

…..

"Do you ever wonder how everyone is doing?" Blue asked, rocking gently in the chair she'd positioned before the fire. The fire was the only light in the room, spreading across the floor. Warmth curled around her, seeping into her body.

Gansey slowed her rocking to a stop, sliding to his knees with a clank of armor. He leaned in between her knees, stroking her bulging stomach lovingly. "I do, but then, I think I know what they're doing," he murmured, kissing the crest of her stomach. Their child kicked at his mouth, and he pulled away, laughing. "They're going to be feisty, just like you and their siblings."

Blue laughed with him, soothing over her stretched skin and the fabric of her dress. "I would think that Adam and Ronan got married and adopted a child or two because despite his protests, Ronan is a family man and family means everything to him."

"Yes, and your mother and Mr. Gray also got married and had a few children of their own."

"Noah is still living at Monmouth Manufacturing. He's living it up as a bachelor."

"Mom got that seat she was campaigning for, and Helen is still breaking men's hearts."

"Artemis is learning to live in our time, and Calla still telling people's futures while being a professional fighter on the side."

Gansey laughed quietly. "That might be a little farfetched."

Blue smiled widely, "You never know. How long do you think it's been there?"

"Well, it's only been three years here. I don't think it could have been that long. A year or two, maybe," Gansey guessed, "But then again, it might have been seven years. Cabeswater seems to make time weird between here and Henrietta."

Nodding, Blue overshadowed Gansey's hands with her own, running her thumb along his wedding band. "Do you think we'll ever see them again?"

Kissing her stomach again, he murmured, "Living in Cabeswater? Building Henrietta? I think it just might be a possibility."

With Gansey's lips brushing her stomach, she thought, maybe she'd been wrong before. She'd experienced a great number of kisses, and each one had been as sweet as the last.


End file.
